University Bands

 

Dr. Mike Fansler, Director of Bands

 

Mike Fansler

Mike Fansler is director of bands and professor of music at Western Illinois University, where he has led the university's comprehensive band program since 2001. He has accepted performance invitations and delivered conducting seminars on five continents. A noted scholar of Percy Grainger, he has studied at the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, Australia and twice presented at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

​ Under his leadership, the Wind Ensemble maintains an active performing, commissioning, and recording schedule providing students and audiences with high-quality representation of both established and emerging repertoire. Dr. Fansler and the Wind Ensemble released The River of Time (Navona Records), featuring David Maslanka’s O Earth, O Stars and Symphony No. 10 , works commissioned in part by WIU. His conducting has been praised by Fanfare Magazine and Take Effect critics noting his ability to shape lines and create transparent textures. Reviewers have described his recordings as "meticulously executed" and "of indescribable beauty."

​ His musical mentors include James F. Keene, Jon Dugle, Daniel J. Schmidt, Larry Clark, Ronald Caravan, Gunnar Mossblad, Merry Fitz-Randolph, and William Meckley. He holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Syracuse University, James Madison University, and Schenectady County Community College.

​ Beyond WIU, Dr. Fansler conducts the Macomb Municipal Band and performs as a saxophonist with the American Legion Post 6 Big Band. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He credits his wife, Abby, and children, Jordan, Jessica, and Juliet with providing him a life full of happiness.

 

 

Email: MJ-Fansler@wiu.edu
Office Phone: (309) 298-2063
Office: Sallee Hall 206, Macomb, IL 61455